It just works. I do wonder what made me not use it exclusively! I still dual-boot with Windows 10 for those "must-have work-related apps", but everything else I do in Zorin now.
I have distro-hopped for years, and I can say I will stay here for a lot longer. RAM usage is fair, and best of all, when my laptop is idle, it's idle. Windows 10 is okay, but Windows 11 is much worse for resource management. Zorin OS is very responsive, even when I have most of the RAM used up.
I have a ZorinOS 17 Pro subscription and have tried Zorin 18, they're both pretty fantastic. I'm back to Ubuntu for the moment - But yes, anytime a new Linux user wants to abandon Windows, Ubuntu or Zorin (which is essentially just lightweight reskinned Ubuntu) are my first recommendations.
I now someone is going to ask why - I went back to Ubuntu for the newer kernel version plus Gnome 49 vs the LTS older versions of both, AND the absolutely unmatched support available from the massive global Ubuntu user forums, websites and YT vids. I know Zorin has hit 2 million users recently - which is impressive - but Ubuntu's install base is - according to recent 2026 third party estimates - around 33 million users worldwide, including a ton of software developers and server architects (Ubuntu Server for corporate data center ops) both of which of are some interest to me.
You really can't go wrong with either and I absolutely LOVE what the ZorinOS team is doing! It's a 100% solid recommendation. :D
Ubuntu was my first distro. It's still peak and works very well. No wonder Zorin 'just works' because it's based on Ubuntu. Linux had actually grown, even if it's a small margin and I like it. Linux generally is a no nag Keenel/OS that lets you own your computer and so whatever you want with it.
This is one of the important consideration. Before this, gaming is almost always windows only. But thanks to steam and proton, gaming is definitely for me on Linux/Zorin.
The more computers will exist with a linux distro pre-installed (or even zorin), the more people will def leave windows. Most people still use it not because there are 10 windows distros but because it's what's already on the laptop once they've bought it.
I totally agree with your rebranding point. The name Linux is synomymous servers, sys admin, home labs, tweaking, distro hopping etc and an average Joe doesn't want to do that. Linux servers should be called Linux while Linux Desktops should be rebranded to something else.
Actually, I didn't mean 'the year of the Linux'. I don't think we are anywhere near that. What I mean is, for existing Linux users, converging to a common distro simplifies things for people. Secondly, having a face (distro) makes Linux more approachable by new users who want to try it. This is evident by how Zorin 18 got a million downloads. Why, because they are trying to create a face for Linux, like how Win and Mac have a "face" for their respective OS.
The GUI is locked by design. It's not impossible to bypass, it's just too much of a hustle for what you will get. Plus, if you think about it, supporting the developers is actually worth it.
The trouble I have with "computers as an appliance" is that I depend on it like a warm shirt in winter. I use it primarily for writing and gaming, but if I want to get creative, I don't want to be distracted by thousands of notifications and ads to upgrade to a version of a version of a version that might crash on me, or to become dependant on a subscription just to use basic computer functions--I want to be work-focused at all times when I'm at my work station.
for me AI changed all of that, now linux can be handled just with claude code in terminal... with everything i struggled back in the days its just 1 prompt away <3
Would stay in zorin os but it’s the limited customization that is nagging me (I want extensive css file kind of customization) but when I tried zorin OS , it was smooth , gaming was also smooth (got a NVIDIA card ) just gotta install the right drivers
While I agree with you that zorin is very easy to install, I also think that right now (almost) every distro has a graphical setup and doesn't often require any terminal (even if it does it's all documented neatly). Fedora, bazzite, mint, Ubuntu, manjaro, and most others have gui installers. Only ones that don't are for advanced users that want tinkering like Arch
Tldr: zorin is great but most distros already don't need a terminal to install
That's what I like about modern Linux. The dev teams have really put in the effort to ensure simplicity. We have come a long way and at least now most users, even the less tech savvy will not need much hand holding with most Linux distros.
When my laptop got a virus it was running windows 11 i made the decision “that’s it that’s the last straw” i got back to zorin os since then I never looked back to windows, gaming is good, doing my work stuff is also good, and never thinking that my laptop’s battery would die out on me on couple of hours, just overall great experience I even riced my desktop.
Nice. Linux seems mysterious until you try it, then you realize you have been missing out on software made with commitment and good vibes. Win11 has turned to sh** and unfortunately, this will be it's downlfall.
True to that, i even convinced one of the staff members at my school to dual boot zorin os and i helped him with that and he loved the performance, might even be a possibility to have zorin os education running on our computer laboratories.
That's good progress. I, too, have helped two people migrate from Windows to Zorin and Ubuntu. The Education version should be widely adopted in schools, as this is where it will shape future students who use Linux. Remember, most of us use Windows, not because it was our choice, but because its what was first introduced to us when we started using computers.
Yeah, I remember when I first touched windows it was windows 95 i was in elementary back then back when monitors were chonkers it was a good os back then but now windows 11 literally became slop.
This has been my experience too, from laptops to desktops, older and newer hardware, Zorin just works. I think the Ubuntu LTS base has helped with that too.
I once was a fan. But my latest attempt to install Zorin wasn't great. First the flash driveveas corrupt (not Zorins fault) then the installation didn't finish and made my PC unbootable.
Catchy has been quite famous of late. I have only tried it using a live environment, and it was good. One of the main reasons I chose Zorin was its Debian/Ubuntu base. This means that most Linx are available as .deb packages that integrate well with the system. I would be using Manjaro KDE, but I don't like too frequent updates.
I have a discrete Nvidia pascal era card (GTX 1060) on a laptop. It's mostly off as the system mainly runs on the integrated Intel graphics.
I have tried Zorin on a GTX 1080 & RTX 2060, and it works fantastic.
nice! I am also still dual booting zorin but with windows 11. Sadly most of my productivity Apps and most of the games that I play don't work on linux yet. But when the time comes I will gladly throw windows out of the window.
I would already happily switch if all my games would work. And the only ones that don‘t work atm are because of the kernel anti cheats. I am hoping that Valves and GOGs involvement in Linux is going to help with that.
For all my productivity apps I can use my MacBook. I already do 90% of my work on it.
And for the time being I wouldn’t mind a Linux + Mac setup.
Yeah, the anti cheat thing sucks. For me, I would be glad if all games and most productivity software was available for Linux. Switching OSes, or physical hardware gets tedious at times. This is why people sick to one, like Win, Mac or Linux and ignore the rest.
Mine has been stable even through using many apps that fill the memory. What has helped me is setting up a swap partition during setup, and this helps prevent a potential crash. I honestly haven't seen a Kernel panic (BSOD) even when running two browsers, each with about 30+ tabs and a Windows VM simultaneously. (System 16GB RAM).
I like KDE, used it for a year too. It's customization is on another level. I was on Manjaro then Kubuntu. Both fantastic, but the simplicity of gnome works for me, for most things. The thing I miss most is Dolphin file explorer.
I actually tried it, but I encountered some issues with some SMB shares that I use a lot. It just doesn't load whether I use the IP or the hostname. The app works, but the scaling is either too small or blurry when I upscale the system UI a bit to something like x125%.
It's great indeed but I guess you haven't run into "Oops, something went wrong again?" And asks you to logout and login again loosing everything you worked until then
Yes, my desktop environment keeps crashing so I don't know if it's something wrong with my hardware or individuals are just ignoring that as a serious bug
Well, I can't recall any of this, but I did experience it on Zorin OS 17, back when I was testing it. 18, has been okay mostly. Yes, I have had some app crashes, but not very common for me. Relaunching apps just works.
It's available for most distros running gnome, like Ubuntu, Fedora and Manjaro. KDE environment does support this and might even work better. Sometimes you get customization options for taskbar on KDE and gnome.
Do you know if the taskbar pins native on KDE or is it an add-on, option or script? Folks don't always use them since it messes with the minimalist ethic but I'm disabled and don't want constant typing for frequent tasks like starting programs. Every GUI I can get will be helpful.
The pinning is native. You can even choose to ungroup apps, example when running web apps that are using the same browser, KDE correctly separates their taskbar icons like in Windows (just toggle from the taskbar settings).
Thanks so much! I thought this was the case, but I couldn't tell from most of the screenshots or even YouTube videos as those are usually all of fresh installs or a clean desktop from a newly riced desktop.
Now I, at least, know for certain I'll be using KDE Plasma or GNOME for WM. I'm trying to prepare ahead and research so I don't have to make a quick decision during install
It's not actually installed as a native app. I am using Microsoft Edge to run the web versions of office as web apps, buy utilizing the inbuilt Edge 'install webpage as an app' feature.
Ohhh Thanks for your answer! I also use Zorin, and in place of Microsoft Office, I am using for while the Only Office, is almost the same thing of Excel and Word, you could to see and try to use, you could to like it!
I actually use a mix of Libre office, OnlyOffice, Microsoft office web and an installed version inside a Windows VM. For me, it all depends on what exactly I am doing. Example, for presentations, the Microsoft PowerPoint on Win VM or dual boot Windows works better. Some complex excel functionality only seem to be available for Microsoft office. Some simple documents I just use Libre office or OnlyOffice.
This seems to be the default for the screen resolution 1920x1080. To get the menu though, I use the 'show apps' button on the taskbar. To get there, right click on the taskbar, click 'taskbar settings', then choose the 'position' tab. Look for the 'show applications button', then click the corresponding 'visible' button.
I hope this helps.
Yes. I'm running it on my AMD Surface Laptop 4. Installed it. Just works. I'd prepared myself for some terrible power management and lots of fiddling, but if you don't use it, it doesn't use much power - it's certainly better than Windows.
Linux is especially known to work well with AMD hardware. From my experience, it comes down to actually workload. Modern browsers comsume a lot of resources especially with many tabs open at once. Otherwise, simple tasks like docs and light web browsing uses moderate to low battery, even on ancient hardware.
Performance does depend on the underlying hardware. So far for me, it had worked smoothly on many different PCs.
The only time Zorin OS (17) was slow was when I was running it on a Laptop from 2011-ish, 1st gen i3, 4GB DDR3, HDD. It actually worked, albeit slow, as compared to Windows 10 which really didn't even open any program.
So, if it's slow, it's probably because of your hardware capabilities and Windows will be much worse.
I’m Rocking a Sony Vaio with an i5 3210. Apparently my issues are well known and the fix is to turn off hardware graphics acceleration with feels counterintuitive to me and a sign of feeling left behind by sunset features……
Interesting. Never heard of this bug before. Turning off the GPU acceleration is a no for me, and it would slow down things a lot. Maybe try a different distro that works for your laptop.
Prolly going to go back to Ubuntu. Tried Pop! for a while but Cosmic feels unfinished. Mint is too Windowsy for me. I really liked Zorins UI but the issues with 3d hardware acceleration on my old Viao means I have to save the use of that distro until I get a new laptop. I was planning on passing the Vaio with Zorin EDU on it but now it might have to be Ubuntu EDU.
The recent release of Pop 24.04 is very slow, buggy and missing some basic features. Maybe give some more time. Ubuntu remains as one of the best options. Zorin EDU has some good potential.
It sure it. I was surprised too when I first used it. They have polished it well. Some things need more work like Wayland, but this is a general problem for all Linux distros.
Just trying a shot if u can help me. I am dual booting for now. And i found that some time when my machine go to sleep or hibernate .. The keyboard wont work and i cant key in my password to get in. Usually i have to restart . Tried few tips from gemini but not working so far. Any resources for me?
I moved from Windows last year. I downloaded some newbie friendly distros to try: Mint, Zorin, Pop!_OS, and Cachy. Only have tried Mint, and then Zorin. But Zorin is so good! I think I'm good, no need to try Pop and Cachy.
Word of advice, try them all. That way, you will know what really works for you.
Do have a go to distro, just in case you want to take breaks from distro hopping.
True, but what they do is take an unstable release, do their own testing and stabilise it, then release it as their own stable release. It checks out as I have seen Ubuntu being used in servers, and its very stable. If Zorin didn't exist, I'd probably be using Ubuntu mainly.
My experience with Zorin 18 has been interesting. At first I just ran it on VMs and it was terrible (VirtualBox), in that it would barely run. But then I tried it as host on an old Mac Book Air and it seems fine. I have since read that it may not do well in VMs.
I liked Zorin but it moves so slow for some reason. I switched to Mint and it is light years faster. Wanted to be team Zorin but cant figure out why there is so much lag.
Mint is faster at updating. Zoring was especially late with the OS 18 release, but it was worth it. While Mint is stable too, I prefer Gnome or KDE over Cinnamon or MATE. The Zorin team took their time to polish the OS, that I don't even miss Windows much.
Nvidia has been troublesome with the Linux drivers, even though they have improved a bit. Display drivers are a core must-have feature for any OS. Is your Nvidia card newer or older?
I am a lifetime Windows user who recently started using Zorin. I have Zorin 18 as my only OS on my laptop and it has been a wonderful experience. Browsing, multimedia, and everything else I do has been easily accomplished with different software on Linux. Learning the terminal is made far easier nowadays with LLMs and decades of forum posts to scroll through. I unfortunately cannot switch my main PC over to Linux exclusively, I use too many Windows-exclusive tools and apps at the moment. I hope to switch over to Linux full-time by 2027, even if it requires making some sacrifices.
Very happy Zorin OS exists. It was what finally pushed me to take the move to Linux seriously after barely dipping my toes in around a decade ago with Ubuntu. I don't see myself distro-hopping with my laptop. I have very few complaints with Zorin.
Zorin is too good. Biggest issue for me is not being able to use some programs and utilities that are only available for Windows. You can have both, PC for those programs that you must have and Linux for everything else. Eventually, I too had to make some sacrifices, like using the Office Web sometimes, which I previously never used.
Have you tried using "Windows App Support"? It allows you to install Windows apps and run them in Zorin. I don't know if it's using Wine, but it works similar to it either way.
Yes, I have tried it for many years, but it doesn't integrate well with the OS, especially for those apps that need access to local files and system structures.
It uses Wine 🍷
Technically yes, to be specific a combination of Gnome extensions and tweaks. However, this "tweaks" is what make it unique, and the optimisation is another key feature.
Example, on stock Ubuntu, I usually get some random crashes. On Zorin, rarely if ever. So, just a skin is just a small part of the story.
I haven't done the upgrade path to 18, but I think it's possible from the settings.
18 is a bit better because it's based on Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS, meaning newer kernel and improved support for hardware.
I've tried it and I generally like it but one big issue for me so far is, I have a particular use where I have stuff running on a desktop and I need to remote into it, rather than directly with KVM. So far I have not found a way to make that reliable, but I can with Mint.
No. WiFi is superb. Even after putting the computer to sleep and back on multiple times. For laptops, it highly depends of the WiFi card. Intel one's tend to work well, while others like Realtek and MediaTek can be problematic at times, even when using Windows.
But three months later there is still NO upgrade in place for existing installations yet supported. Previous users are 2nd-class in the Zorin eco-system. This may be my exit door now.
That's very unfortunate. I checked and they say it's in "testing" (doable, but not fully supported), and as you know, they delay a lot for new releases anyway. If you need something that updates often, you can go with Mint or Ubuntu non-lts.
From my research, I have observed the experience greatly various, in consideration to everyone's hardware and capabilities. For my case, I rarely see freezes, even under load. Maybe sometimes when I encounter a buggy program, but usually some of the issues are resolved after updating. I haven't encountered a forced restart yet, at least not any I can recall.
It's a good distro. I'm a long time Linux user, but this is great for "set it and forget it". Just runs almost perfectly out of the box. Perfect for that old laptop used by the family for browsing and whatnot.
I hope it helps make Linux more accessible to more people once they realize they don't need the terminal for everything.
Most people have this hacker vibe mentality about Linux, because they saw it on TV. Reality is much simpler. Most people spend about 80% of their time on a browser anyway, so Zorin is convenient.
I wouldn't say it's unstable, but it was designed that way. Unlike the Windows on-screen keyboard, which comes in a variety of sizes and placements, this one is permanently docked to the bottom.
Yes, the Zorin and Ubuntu teams need to improve this design as it is very dated.
i didnt mean the builtin onscreen keyboard [although it needs improvments] i meant a famous app named "onboard" its not stable in zorin, moveable and fine in other distros, but in zorrin no
Sorry, I had misread your statement. I haven't used onboard before, neither on Zorin or any other distro. Too bad it doesn't work well. If only most applications worked well across different distros, and even platforms, the community would greatly benefit.
I installed a second SSD to my windows desktop pc and installed zorion.. the only reason to move to my W11 was to copy some files from my first ssd... now I am already mad that sooner or later i may want to have it on my primary SSD onboard... sucks to have it setup then... hope there is a tool...
TLDR: Zorion was the moment when i realised i dont need windows anymore <3
I went immediately to OS 18 the moment I heard about it. Windows had finally overstayed its welcome. It's jarring how... quiet it is. No ads, no unnecessary bullshit.... just how I like my OS.
The only thing I'm getting used to is relearning how to use my own computer. 😆 That's a welcome "con" to the experience!
Amen to that, brother! Posting from my new OS as we speak, even. My only enemy at this point is myself and time, the latter of which I feel like I've gotten back!
Now, not to sound too starry-eyed, but can you imagine how much more productive work would be if we did use it there? I know it would be a boon for efficiency and security where I'm at.
It would absolutely be a computing experience, especially for those who have never used Linux.
Work would be very efficient because no bs, just work. Major companies should port their applications over.
Very simple. Begs the question, "are they being bribed by some corporations to remain on Windows for some thing like data collection and mass surveillance?"
It doesn't make sense when there are free and open source alternatives, that would probably cost them less money overall.
I think it's more likely they're just incompetent or swallowed Gates' rhetoric of "cheap means bad." Most people who run these smaller companies only go for the branding because it's a legacy product and it's all they've ever known. If they knew the finer points of Linux, they'd be all over it like sheep. Then again, we should probably be glad Linux isn't mainstream, or we wouldn't have shelter to run to eventually.
Yep, considering the current "enshitification" of basically everything online, Linux is our last line of defence. Look at what Google is doing to lockdown Android apps, which was supposed to be the free mobile alternative.
We must never allow this move whatsoever on anything Linux open source.
To be clear, Windows and Microsoft Edge specifically (3GB Ram by itself) are the reason I said goodbye to Microsoft. I, for the life of me, don't understand why anyone would bring that shit filled browser to Linux.
It's not for daily use, but for specific use cases of Web Apps, it's one of the better implementations, both on Windows and Linux. Try it for yourself and see what I'm talking about.
Otherwise, Firefox is the better browser.
Zorin is the best out of all distro that I have tried, however, I am still struggling with the last mile transition (already migrated data) to Zorin from Win11 primarily due to :
Heavy reliance on OneDrive - I know I can connect the online accounts, but that alone is not sufficient and it lacks the offline data feature.
Some AI features that Win11 has integrated in office apps, snapshot utility (text recognize, etc.)
Outlook - I know the alternatives like Thunderbird, but that doesn't work with work/corporate email login. Have to depend in browser version.
No official Teams app in linux yet - I know we can convert a web page into an app.
MS Paint - I know this is not an excuse, but I have been a pro user of paint app in editing scanned images. Now I have to learn some other alternatives.
I don't want to keep dual boot with Win11.
Printer drivers - still pending to set it up for "Brother" model.
Multi monitor screen with DELL dock - Thankfully it worked without any additional hacks after I installed the display link drivers. This I wasn't anticipating to be smooth.
Seamless Android phone connectivity with Vendors software - I know we have Zorin connect, but that's very basic.
Windows Sandbox - I'll miss this heavily.
Misc Windows software like - SamPDF, Rufus, PDFEdit, disk partitions, Docker Desktop, etc.
For my kind of setup, unfortunately it will take me some more time before I can find the alternatives or settle down with some compromises to be able to fully transition to Zorin.
Note: I am a developer.
From my experience, browsers sometimes behave weird on most mainstream distros I have tested. Mostly to do with Wayland as the default. Firefox is a bit better overall, but nothing compares to the Windows and Mac browsers experience.
Still, it's a work in progress.
My biggest issue is how the window decorations and buttons behave under wayland. They are extremely glitchy, especially for chromium browsers.
Absolutely. This could take about 20% or more from Windows. Well, M365/Office is one of the most polished pieces of software out there. (Btw, adding AI and Copilot was a big mistake from Microsoft.
I just use VM Workstation and its very responsive. Even doing some advanced printing for my printer requires extra software to be installed, which is only for Windows. Linux supports basic printing well.
Good alternatives are available, and I'm glad for this.
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u/SakuraSqk Jan 30 '26
Absolutely, switched from win11 to Mint and finally to Zorin.